Monday, October 8, 2007

Joseph X. Zhou notes Prof. Denis Nobel's on systems-biology in the blog.Commandment 1 (C1): Gene itself has no functions.C2: Transmission of information is NOT one-wayC3: DNA is not sole transmitter of inheritanceC4: Theory of biology RelativityC5: Gen ontology will fail without high-level insightC6: There is not “genetic program”C7: There is no program at any other levelC8: No program from any level, including brainC9: Life is the self integrated process, not an object or substance.C10: There are many more to be discovered, the theories of biology do NOT yet exist. Seeking theory/ies is real challenge in system biology.

I do not like C10. What about evolution? If we are talking only about Systems Biology it might be true, but if we are talking of all Biology, then C10 is plainly wrong. And C1, well, what is any part of a biological system without the other parts, C9 states it clearly? It could be rewritten to be more accurate, I think.

Despite my objections these seem to be some interesting principles worthy of more discussion.